In my view the standard of CVs produced is pretty poor (both by individuals and by those with so called professional help). A recent correspondent sent me a copy of his CV speculatively and the front page was covered in computer generated graphics. The overall image was one of a children’s book encouraging them to do the picture quiz and fill in the missing word. Whilst this approach may be effective at infant school teacher level it is not likely to impress anybody making decisions at managing director level - the level my correspondent wished to address. When I wrote and told him it was the worst CV I had ever seen, he became upset and accused me of being unfair to the unemployed and seeking to promote my CV writing service! I was therefore, forced to write to him and give him the benefit of my experiences on CVs, which I now share with you.

Everybody you meet and speak to will have an opinion, a view, know somebody, have good reason to believe that they know how to write the perfect CV. They will know exactly the sequence the CV should follow, the perfect words which always catch the recruiters’ attention and the style that always gets somebody a job. Having worked in both recruitment and outplacement for many years I have yet to find a perfect CV. I have seen some good ones, but I have seen awful lot more which are bad and some which are very bad.

You should approach the task as an example of your work, a concrete sample of your ability to analyse and to present complex and detailed information simply, an example of your attention to detail and ability to communicate in writing.

The selection of people from CVs is possibly one of the more objective bits of the recruitment process. The rest, mainly interviews, will rely heavily on your verbal skills. So get this right, show them what you can do.

There are some basic rules which you should understand if you are to make an impact. The first of these is that recruitment people are not very bright, for some inexplicable reason they are unable to read your mind, they know nothing about how wonderful you have been in your last job and know nothing of your achievements - unless you tell them!

The second basic rule is that first impressions count out of all proportion to everything else you do. The way your CV and correspondence looks is more important than what it contains - you can be the ideal candidate but a scruffy CV will rule you out. If it is nicely presented you will get farther than if it is poorly presented.

The third basic rule is that you get negative responses to spelling mistakes (lack of attention to detail) while you get nothing extra for not having spelling mistakes, but put in the bin if there is one.

CONTENT

Your CV must be specific about your achievements - the unique selling points which separate you from all others, it must look and feel good and there can be no spelling mistakes.

In a perfect world we would produce a special version of a CV specifically tailored to the task it is expected to perform each time we wish to send one out. Few of us have time or capacity to do this, but we may have a couple of versions. We need therefore, to clearly think through the target at which we are aiming. What is the job and job level we are seeking? Our CV must then demonstrate through our current responsibilities and achievements so that we can move towards the level we would like to attain.

For example, if we wish to become a managing director having been a functional specialist, we would need to demonstrate the different skills and experiences an MD should be able to demonstrate. These would include knowledge and experience of other functional areas, especially finance and sales and marketing ( if these were not the functional specialisation) and most certainly leadership. By going through this approach we are clarifying our own views and will give our CV a purpose. We will also be clarifying our thoughts for the interview and will be able to show a clearly thought out view of our future to the interviewer. If we are going for more than one type of job then we will need different CVs to focus on the types of job we are seeking.

Make your CV the agenda of the interview you are going to get - give them the subject heading you want them to talk about.

So what should be put in the CV, presented nicely and with no mistakes? It would be cynical to say that the majority of recruiters plough through the majority of applications they receive looking for reasons NOT to progress each to the next level - so call me a cynic! Also, consultants are expensive, if we can use cheap labour to undertake an initial sort then we will do so. Whilst a clerical person would not be expected to be able to evaluate the subjective subtleties of, say, different corporate cultures, they are able to work with objective evidence such as age, education, last position. So if you think leaving your age off your CV will enhance your prospects, do not bother.

Personal profiles is an area with which I have difficulty. I do not like profiles at the beginning of a CV. Individuals I have worked with have argued that an executive summary at the beginning of any document is essential to ensure all important information is gathered in one place. I personally do not like them, though I note that the majority of the outplacement organisations use them. I struggle to find the added value from a set of subjective statements - which in the main they are.

Make your profile or executive summary as objective and verifiable as possible. Sententious opinions about unverifiable personal qualities are a waste of space.

Apart from the fundamentals - name, address, telephone numbers including mobiles and Email, names of companies and job titles, try to establish your USPs (unique selling points). How do you differ from the hundreds of applicants with similar experience and backgrounds who are applying for the same job? We have talked briefly before about focusing your achievements but these USPs may not have occurred in the course of jobs you have held, though it would be nice if they had, but they may well occur in a peripheral activity. Examples are: Relevant degree - an understanding of Japanese Noh theatre gives you insights into the oriental approach to business. Saturday interests - being a rugby referee means you can manage a large number of particularly difficult types who are running around trying to inflict damage on one another (just like any other business). Something you did whilst at college - carried 1,000 bricks an hour, dug 200ft trenches, hitch hiked to Australia and back, all suggest stamina and endurance. Secondary activity at work - you may have solved problems almost as a part-time activity which interest other employers i.e. TQM, BS5750, IT implementation etc.

There are some other things you could stress which normally give recruiters a warm feeling; these include your progression through an organisation, did the companies all belong to one group; have you been re-employed by a company; did a boss take you with him, can you demonstrate personal development within a role or organisation or did they spend a lot of money sending you on a fancy management course. You should also try to include some volumes, where appropriate, to give size to the task you performed. What was the turnover of the organisation, by how much did you increase it; how many people was the turnover of the organisation, by how much did you increase it; how many people did you manage, by how many did you reduce this? You should try to give values to a whole range of key performance indicators and to show how you influenced these to make the organisation more successful. These will demonstrate a truly commercial manager.

Make sure you stress your achievements in each role you have held, simply listing responsibilities tells the recruiter nothing - what you need to show is what you did with those responsibilities. Use some of the action words listed on page 55, but beware the law of diminishing returns - the more action words you use the less impact they have.

What should you not include on your CV?  The stylised versions produced by many of the outplacement companies should be avoided because they bring about reactions from many recruiters, none of which are favourable, the nicest being in the range "which outplacement organisation are you working with."

Photographs, unless requested, normally produce rude comments from secretaries or assistants. All seem to follow the style set by the follicly challenged man in the photo booth advertising Hamlet cigars.

The length of the CV is not important, unless it exceeds three pages.

You do not need to give reasons for leaving jobs on your CV (though these will be questioned and tested at interview)

You do need to put salary on your CV, it limits where you can send it. Though if the question is asked you must answer it in your covering letter.

Two final things, impact must be made on the first page, all important data must, therefore, be on page one. Get them interested before you let them know of your vast age and lack of education. Finally be honest - euphemism and lies will be found out.

How does your CV match these ideas?

Call me to fix a meeting about overcoming redundancy.